Pincers.



R. N. JOHNSON.

Patented July 8, 1913.

w/h /raiiza' UTED liATENT FETCH ROBERT N. JOHNSON, OF BROCKTON,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T FRANK W. VVHITCHER COMPANY, OF BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

FINGERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

.iat ented July 8,1913.

Application filed March 14, 1912. Serial No. 683,880.

To oZZ ee/1.0m, it may concern Be it known that I, ROBERT N. JonNsoN,citizen of the United States, residing at Brockton, county of Plymouth,State of ivl assachusetts, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Pincers, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

Lasting pincers such as are employed in the ma nufacture of boots andshoes are provided with jaws, the engaging portions of which are usuallyroughened or serrated in order to enable the jaws to bite effectivelyupon the leather, that is grasped between the jaws so as to prevent thejaws from slipping upon the leather during the application of force topull the shank portion of the upper over the bottom of the last. Thegripping faces of the jaws have always heretofore so far as I aln awarebeen formed of metal and in order to prevent the jaws from slipping itis necessary that these grasping surfaces should be roughened. orserrated or formed with teeth as previously mentioned. The teeth or theserrations rapidly wear away so that the teeth have to be sharpened orthe. jaws renewed. Sometimes the jaws are formed of separate blocks ofsteel which are welded to the levers so that they can be renewed buteventhese are expensive. ln any event whether the metal jaws are madeseparate or integral with. the'levers the metal teeth frerpiently injurethe leather by cutting or scratching it.

The object of the present invention is to form the gripping portions ofthe jaws of some material other than metal which will he of a resilientcharacter yet tirmly grip the leather without slipping during theoperation of the pincers in drawing the leather over the last and yetwhich will on account of the resiliency not cut into the surface of theleather. The need of such a pincers as l. have described is especiallyfelt at the present time because much of the leather used in themanufacture of shoes seems to be harder than it was formerly andtherefore more strain is put upon the pincers.

The invention will be fully understood from the following descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings,

and the novel features will be pointed out and clearly defined in theclaims at the close of the specilicatimi.

In the drawi11gs,-Figure 1. is a side elevation of a pair of pincersembodying the 1nvention showing the jaws partly open, the upper jawbeing provided with a facing of rubber or other resilient material andthe lower jaw bein formed of metal with a smooth face. big. 2 is a sideelevation, the handles being broken away, showing a modification of theinvention in which the lower jaw .is made of metal but formed withteeth, the upper jaw having the rubber facing. liig. 25 is a sideelevation broken away of a modification showing rubber faces for bothjaws. Fig. l is a side elevation broken away showing another mmlilication in which the rubber facings are formed with slots throughwhich metal teeth project. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of thelower jaw shown in Fig. l: having the slotted rubber facing incombination with metal teeth. Fig. (3 is a perspective detail view ofthe rubber facing shown in l igs. l, 2 and it and showing the studprojections for connecting it with the lever. Fig. 7 is a detailperspective, partly broken away, of the upper jaw, showing the holes toreceive the rubber studs.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to Fig. 1, A and Itrepresent the two members respm-tively of the pinccrs pivoted togetherat ll) and having respectively the lever or handle portions ll, 12 andthe curved jaw portions 23 and H. The upper jaw is provided with adetachable gripping face of flexible material, pref erably rubber, whichin the form shown in Fig. 1 consists of a block 15 of rubber which isformed with studs lti of rubber integral therewith which tit snugly inthe holes 17 in the jaw member ll. On account of the resiliency of therubber the studs 1(') may be made a little larger than the hole, then byforcing them into the holes the UXPflIlSlUH of the rubber studs willbind them within the holes sulliciently to retain the rubber blockssecurely in place without additional fastening means. If. however, it bepreferred a little cement might be used to more securely hold the rubberfacing or block to the metal jaw. .lreferably the gripping face of therubber block is serrated or formed with teeth. The lower jaw member 13may be provided with a facing of metal welded or otherwise securedthereto which in the form shown in Fig. 1 is smooth faced. On account ofthe resilient character of the serrations in the rubber facing therebyincreasing the friction, there will for ordinary uses be sufficient gripon the material when the two jaws are closed onto the leather inoperation if the metal jaw 18 is smooth faced as described. By makingthe metal jaw smooth faced there is avoided the necessity for sharpeningor renewing the metal jaws as frequently as if it were formed withteeth. There is also less danger of cutting the leather. The rubber faceis preferably placed on the upper jaw rather than on the lower jawbecause the upper jaw is the one which usually comes into engagementwith the outer or finished side of the leather in the process oflasting.

If additional check against the possibilty of slipping is required thelower jaw may have a serrated face 19 as shown in Fig. 2 in which thelower face is still of metal.

As a still further guard against any possible tearing or cutting of theleather the gripping faces of both jaws may be formed of rubber as shownin Fig. 3 in which the facing 20 of the lower jaw is of rubber attachedto the lower jaw 13 by studs passing through holes in the jaw in thesame man ner as the rubber facing 15 is secured to the upper jaw member14. A narrow portion along the edge of the leather which is grasped bythe pincers and drawn over the last is usually covered up in thefinished shoe and that portion of the upper is grasped farthest back inthe throat of the jaws while the forward portion of the jaws reachfarther up onto portions of the upper which will be exposed in thefinished shoe. For this reason it is not necessary to be quite soparticular to guard against roughing or marring that portion of theupper which will be so concealed.

t is found that in working with some kinds of leather a combination ofrubber and metal in the grasping face of the jaw is desirable and inthat case there may be metal teeth down in the throat of the jaw whilethe outer end is wholly of rubber. Such a form of construction is shownin Figs. 4 and 5 in which the jaws are each provided with a rubberfacing 21, 22, respectively and the metal jaws 13, 1 are providedrespectively with teeth 23, 2 f, which extend over a portion of thesurface back in the throat and which pass through a slot in the rubberplates 21, 2 2, respec-- tively. The slot in the rubber plate 22 isformed of proper shape for the teeth 24 of the metal plate to extendthrough the slot and the teeth are of sufficient height so as to projectslightly beyond the surface of the rubber plate 22. In a similar mannerthe metal teeth of the upper jaw are fitted in relation to the rubberplate of that jaw. The metal teeth it will be noticed are all toward therear end of the rubber plate, that is well down in the throat of thejaws while the front part of the gripping face is entirely of rubber sothat the portion of the upper which is engaged by the metal teeth isthat portion which will be covered in the finished shoe as abovedescribed.

It is obvious that in all the various forms of construction either oneor both of the gripping faces may be made of rubber and that when themetal gripping face is made of metal it may be either smooth or roughand that the gripping member which con tains the rubber plate may haveits gripping face made either entirely or partially of rubber and it isintended herein to not limit the invention to the use of rubber grippingjaws, either on one face alone or on both faces or to limit it to theuse of a gripping face which is wholly of rubber but so far as I amaware I am the first to provide lasting pincers with a gripping face 011either one or both of the jaws formed either wholly or partially ofrubber or other resilient material other than metal.

IV hat I claim is 1. A lasting tool comprising two pivotally connectedmembers having gripping jaws, at least one of said jaws being providedwith a serrated gripping face partly of rubber and partly of metal, themetal portion being serrated and surrounded by the rubber portion whichis also serrated.

2. A lasting tool comprising two pivotally connected members havinggripping jaws, at least one of said jaws being provided with a serratedgripping face partly of rubber and partly of metal, the metal portionbeing serrated and surrounded by the rubber portion which is alsoserrated, the teeth of the metal portion projecting higher than theteeth of the rubber portion. In testimony whereof I affix my signature,in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT F. JOHNSON. lVitnesses JOHN P. Burns, E. J. OBRIEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

